Blank and method of feeding the same



July 27, 1937. c. A. MacCORDY 088 329 BLANK AND METHOD OF FEEDING THE SAME Filed April 1, 1935 INVENTOR Chages AMacCordy ATTO RN EYS Patented July 27, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE BLANK AND METHOD OF FEEDING THE SAME Charles A. MacCordy, Syracuse, N. Y., assignor to Reynolds Metals Company, New York, N. .Y., a. corporation of Delaware Application April 1, 1935, Serial No. 14,188

10 Claims.

case of blanks made of relatively thin and easily bent material, previous attempts to effect accurate and certain separation of single blanks from the stack and hence to maintain reliable and uninterrupted operation of the feeding machine have been without success.

One dificulty in feeding relatively thin and easily bendable metal blanks from a stack is that of effectively positioning the blanks in relation to the slider and to the edge of the opening through which the blanks are discharged so that at each forward stroke of the slider only a sin: gle blank will be pushed out from the bottom of a stack of blanks, and without, at the same time, dislodging or injuring the blank next contiguous thereto. For example, where the blanks are made of metal foil of approximately .003 of an inch in thickness, the edge of the bottom blank presents an extremely narrow target for engagement by the advancing end of a slider or pusher. Likewise, with so narrow an edge, it is difficult to prevent the next successive blank or blanks from riding out through the discharge slot along with the bottom blank. A slight bending or displacement of the blank edges may therefore cause the pusher to miss the edge entirely, to engage the edges of more than one blank, or to carry out or displace one or more blanks other than that at the bottom of the stack. In any such case, the feeding operation is interrupted and losses of time and material are incurred.

An object of my invention has been to provide a blank of metal foil or the like having edge portions adapted to present a relatively large target, as compared to the thickness of the material of the blank, for engagement with the pusher of a feeding machine to facilitate feeding of the blanks singly from a stack, and preferaldly such that nesting cannot occur as between one blank and the next in a stack.

It would be desirable in many cases to emboss relatively thin blanks with markings for identification of a packaged product or of the maker or seller thereof, or with some other type of deformation for a mechanical or decorative purpose. However, if the blanks are similarly embossed, as by the same die or other device whereby portions of each are forced out of their normal surface planes to form protuberances and corresponding recesses, haphazard stacking of such blanks, as for feeding in a rapidly operating machine, would result in nesting of the projections of one blank with the corresponding-recessed portions of another blank contiguous thereto with obvious undesirable effect on the feeding operation. I

It has been a further object'of my invention, therefore, to provide blanks of metal foil or the like which present relatively small areas of frictional contact surface between them and are otherwise so formed that they may be assembled or stacked for feeding in a haphazardmanner without nesting of one With another. According to my invention,-this is accomplished in the case of thin blanks by providing them with embossed deformations or spacer portions differentially arranged, as between one blank and another contiguous thereto. Thus, embossedblanks of metal foil, for example, may berapi'dly assembled in a stack and effectively displaced from the bottom or end thereof by suitable means and without dislodginga contiguous blank orblanks due to nesting of the blanks or frictional resistance against sliding movement of one in relation to another contiguous blank.

Other advantages of my improved construction and beneficial results from the practice of my improved method will be apparentfrom the following description of an illustrative embodiment of my invention taken in connectionwith the drawing appended to this specification and in which- Figure 1 is'a top plan view of a portion of typical assembling and feeding mechanism withvention, as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the drawing, comprises a blank a in the form of a disc of metal foil or the likehaving a flat central portion I and a plurality of defor'mationsformihg equi-spaced oppositely projecting ridges 2 and 3 conveniently produced, as by embossing, and arranged with the axes of their crests extending obliquely in relation to radii of the blank and intersecting peripheral edge portions thereof. This produces a distortion or irregularity of the peripheral edge which has the effect of extending or enlarging its Width as a target for the slider or pusher of the feeding machine.

To avoid nesting of these blanks when stacked,

as for feeding, they are preferably formed to be assembled in pairs or sets with the deformations of one blank of a set differentially arranged in relation to those of the other blank and nonnestable therewith in any usual or contemplated assembly for feeding. Accordingly, such a set of blanks may include the blank a, above described, and a blank I) having the ridges 4 and 5 with their axes extending in a different direction from those of ridges 2 and 3 of blank 11.

With the'proper spacing and pitch or angular disposition of the deformations in the blanks a and b, respectively, a portion of a downwardly facing ridge of one blank of a set will always ride on a portion of an upwardly facing ridge of the other blank of said set in all angular relations between the ridges of one blank and those of the next contiguous blank when the blanks are stacked for feeding.

In a modification, the blanks a and b may be provided with any desiredembossing, shown in Figures 4 and 5 as a centrally located circular deformation 6 surrounded by an annular fiat portion 1 and'presentingan annular shoulder 8 preformed to fit, if required, against a shoulder in the opening of a bottle or other container, for example. The inner ends of the ridges 2, 3 and 6, 5, respectively terminate short of the circular flat portion I, Figure 1, and the annular fiat portion 1, Figure 4, and join therewith by a relatively gradual inclined surface 9 extending from said flat portion to the ridge crest to facilitate the passage of one blank across the next in the feeding operation later to be described.

The blanks provided with deformations differentially arranged and with or without additional embossing, form sets of blanks which, when assembled in a stack, Figures 2 and 4, afford minimum frictional contact and adequate air spaces between contiguous blanks. When the blanks are similarly embossed in addition to the differential deformations, Figures 4 and 5, or otherwise, the ridges 2, 3, 4 and 5 function as spacers to prevent the embossings of one blank from nesting with like embossings of any contiguous blank. Obviously, the differential deformations which function as spacers may have various shapes and relative sizes; and the shape, size, and relative positions thereof on the respective blanks of a set may be other than those shown.

According to my method of feeding blanks or discs as above described, they are assembled successively in sets in a tube, cylinder, or other'suitably shaped containeras I0, Figures 1 and 2, and

. supported in non-nesting relation above a platen H or the like, having a groove I2 of sufficient width and depth to accommodate a displacing element as a slider or pusher l3. Oppositely disposed edge portions of the lowermost blank of the stack shown in Figure 2 rest upon upper surfaces z slider l3.

tion and stated mode of operation that relatively thin embossed blanks or discs of metal foil or the 'like incorporating the features of my invention are capable of being stacked for feeding without nesting; that in feeding methods utilizing sliders or pushers, accurate and effective operation is insured; and that my improved blank construction may be usefully embodied in forms different from those shown without departure from the contemplated scope of my invention.

I claim- 1. Method of assembling and feeding blanks of metal foil or the like which includes the steps of providing successively presented blanks with deformations in the form of ridges which produce irregular edge contours, the ridges of each alternating blank being arranged differentially in relation to those of; the next blank, stacking said blanks co-axially one upon another in non-nesting relation, and applying lateral displacing force to irregular edge portions of the lowermost blank in the stack while retaining the remaining blanks against lateral displacement from the stack.

2. Method of assembling and feeding blanks of metal foil or the like which includes the steps of providing successively presented blanks with substantially identical downwardly projecting deformations and with other deformations in the form of spacers, the spacers of each alternating blank being arranged differentially in relation tc those of the next blank, stacking said blanks coaxially one upon another in non-nesting relation, and applying lateral displacing force to a downwardly projecting deformed portion of the lowermost blank in the stack while retaining the remaining blanks against lateral displacement from the stack.

3. Method of assembling and feeding blanks of metal foil or the like which includes the steps of providing successively presented blanks with embossed spacing portions projecting in one direction and an embossed central portion projecting in the opposite direction, the embossed spacing portions of each blank being in a different relative position thereon from those on each preceding and each succeeding blank, stacking said blanks co-axially one upon another in alternating relation so that said embossed spacing portions prevent nesting of contiguous blanks in the stack, and displacing-said blanks one by one from the bottom of the stack by applying laterally directed pressure on a peripheral edge of said embossed central portion.

4. An article of manufacture consisting of a disc of metal foil having a central flat portion and a marginal portion provided with deformations forming ridges which project out of the plane of said flat portions and diagonally arranged in relation to radii of the disc whereby, when assembled co-axially in a stack, as for feeding, the ridges of each disc will ride in non-nesting engagement with opposed ridges on contigu ous discs.

5. An article of manufacture according to claim 4 and further characterized in that said ridges are connected with said flat portions by inclined surfaces disposed at an angle to facilitate the movement of one disc across a contiguous disc in the stack.

6. An article of manufacture according to claim 4 and further characterized in that a central part of the flat portion is offset and normally nestable with corresponding portions of contiguous discs in a stack and said ridges are connected with said fiat portion by inclined surfaces disposed at an angle to facilitate the movement of one disc across a contiguous disc in a stack, said ridges also serving as spacers to prevent nesting of said nestable offset central parts of said discs in the stack.

7. A set of blanks of metal foil or the like comprising at least two blanks of substantially the same shape and size, each having flat portions and portions deformed as by embossing to present elongated ridges, the axes of the ridges on one blank extending in a different direction from the ridges on the other blank so that when sets of said blanks are assembled co-axially in a stack with one resting on and covering the other, the

deformations of one of said blanks are prevented from nesting with deformations of said otherblank in all positions thereof attainable by rotation of one blank in relation to the other.

8. Articles according to claim '7 and wherein the elongated ridges of said deformations intersect edge portions of the blanks.

9. Articles according to claim 7 and wherein the ridges formed by said deformations protrude alternately in opposite directions, the ridges of one blank being so arranged in relation to the ridges of the other blank that a portion of a ridge of one blank rides on a portion of a ridge of the other blank in all of said positions of rotation thereof.

10. A set of blanks of metal foil or the like, 

